


The Hands of an Angry God

by opalheart12



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-28
Updated: 2016-11-28
Packaged: 2018-09-02 20:50:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8682907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/opalheart12/pseuds/opalheart12
Summary: Marcella Sennas has been thrown out of her own time due to a catastrophic time event. 2,000 years into the future, she is alone and desperately searching for answers when she meets a mysterious man with a blue box who seems to know much more about the accident than he lets on. Inspired by the Fires of Pompeii episode.





	1. Chapter 1

She couldn't breathe. At least, it felt like she couldn't. The wind was gone from her body and she felt like she was choking. It felt as if some force was shoving her forward and forward to the point that she felt nearly crushed. Tears sprung to her eyes and her mouth felt bone dry.

Suddenly, everything stopped and she slammed into the ground with a force that caused her to cry out. Rolling onto her back, she let out a choked sob as she tried to take deep breaths.

"Are you alright?" a voice asked from next to her.

She looked over and saw a dark skinned woman that reminded her uncomfortably of her sister. Her hair was pulled back into a high bun and her mahogany colored eyes were brightly showing concern.

"I don't know." she answered honestly. She tried to sit up and felt as if the world was spinning.

The woman walked toward her with a gentle smile and took her hand. "Don't worry," she said. "I'll get you all sorted out."

Before she could ask exactly what that meant, Marcella Sennas fainted.

What woke her was a noise unlike any she'd heard before. It was shrill and constant and it made her want to destroy whatever the cause of it was.

Opening her eyes, Marcella saw that she was in a bright room with some square contraption on the wall and a large window letting in criminal amounts of sunlight. She was on a bed with possibly the best blankets and pillows she'd ever slept on and she could see a door on the other side of the room. Next to the window was a small sitting chair where the dark woman from earlier was sitting. She was reading a book intently and frowning slightly. Closing the book with a huff, she looked up at Marcella and smiled.

"Oh, good, you're awake. I was worried about you. Traveling through the time vortex can be a bit rough." She was speaking. Marcella knew she was speaking but she just couldn't understand a word of it. What was a "time vortex"? Was that what had pushed her and made her faint?

"I don't understand you." Marcella replied simply, trying her best to ignore the sinking feeling that was creeping into her bones.

The woman smiled, almost sadly, and came to sit on the edge of the bed. "I'm Martha Jones. I'm a doctor. The first thing to worry about is making sure you're alright. You had a rough experience, and I want to tell you what I've guessed happened but...I don't know if you could handle it."

She seemed generally concerned for her wellbeing and Marcella felt with absolute certainty that she was about to hear something she would not like.

"Judging by how you were dressed, I don't think you're from around here. 'Here' being the present. It also doesn't appear that you are from the future, which means I can only assume you were thrown forward in time from the past. If I had to guess by your clothes, Ancient Rome?"

"What do you mean, 'ancient'?"

"The present year is 2016."

She could practically feel the blood draining from her face. She suddenly felt like she might vomit. Martha sighed and looked down into her hands sadly. "I'm so sorry. I don't know-wait. Do you remember who was in power during your time?"

"I...it was Emperor Titus. He'd just ascended after his father died. The last thing I remember was...the house was burning and I was pushed into the impluvium. Then I felt like something was pushing me until I couldn't breathe. What happened?" Marcella became quite aware of the tears in her eyes now and she could only remember a few other times when she was this afraid.

"I'm afraid I don't know. Did you have any family back in your time?" Martha, for her part, looked every bit as sorry as she claimed. Despite not knowing the woman before her, Marcella felt that she could trust her.

She let her eyes drift toward the window, trying to ignore the fear she felt when she could only see the sea and the light reflecting off it. She hated the sea.

"There was only me and my sister. Cassia. Our village was raided and burned when we were children and our family was killed. We were sold into slavery and...and I haven't seen her since the slaver sold her in Herculaneum. We were together nearly all our lives and then...the family we worked for decided to get rid of her. They kept me instead." Marcella's eyes watered as she thought about Cassia. They had always been so very close, closer than two sisters could ever be.

At this, Martha herself felt tears spring to her eyes and her hand flew to her mouth as she tried to take several deep breaths. "I'm so sorry."

"I wouldn't be. Herculaneum is a rich city. Cassia is having a better life there. She can learn and be someone important. She had so many great dreams. I did the crying for the two of us before she left. She was so excited." Marcella replied as a fond smile touched her face.

"No, that's not why I-you know, you have experienced quite a lot today. I may know someone who can help. But for now...you need food and you need rest. You've been through a lot. I suspect it will only be the beginning."

"Beginning of what?"

"You were shoved through the time vortex nearly 2,000 years into the future. You are a woman out of your time. So when I say this is just the beginning…..what I mean is that this is the beginning of everything."

The room was suddenly plunged into silence as Martha left her to consider those words.

Marcella suddenly felt nauseous and noticed black spots on the edge of her vision. She leaned over the bed just in time to vomit, trying to ignore the fact that she was crying too, and fell back against the pillow exhausted and hoping against all hope that this was all some terrible nightmare.

 


	2. Chaper 2

_"Don't cry, Cella. Everything will be alright." Cassia held her sister as she cried into her shoulder. They were three years apart with Cassia being the oldest._

_They were in the back of a carriage with bars, facing the village they'd called home all their lives go up in flames. The screams had died out a short while ago. There had been no warning of a raid. There had been no time to flee. Their mother and father shouted at them to flee just before the door of their home was kicked in. Cassia dragged Marcella away, but not before she saw her mother and father get a sword ran through their bodies._

_They'd been caught by a soldier, two of only ten survivors from their village, and loaded onto a cart, surely to be sold into slavery. Marcella was only 9 years old, but she wasn't naive. She'd heard stories of people being taken and sold miles and miles from their homes into unfamiliar lands and into the hands of the cruelest individuals._

_"Mother and Father are dead! We have no home anymore." she sobbed. She was shaking in fear and anticipation of the unknown._

_Cassia held her tighter and kissed her forehead. "Cella, we have each other. Nothing will ever change that. I swear it," she said. Cassia helped her sister sit up and held her hands tightly. "Shall we pray?"_

_Marcella could not even see the point of prayer now. She'd lost nearly everything. But upon seeing the determination in Cassia's face, she knew she could not deny her. Gripping each other's hands tightly, they prayed_.

Marcella woke up with a start to see the room was dark. Night had finally fallen. She closed her eyes tightly, keeping the image of her sister locked firmly in her mind so she could not forget. When she opened her eyes, she felt tears fall from her eyes.

She was nearly 2,000 years into the future. Cassia was long dead as were any children she might have had and so on. She had nothing left. The thought make her shake with a fear she hadn't experienced in a very long time.

She heard a knock on the door and wiped her eyes before Martha came in. Marcella noticed she had a tray in her hand with foods she recognized: bread, grapes, cheese, water, cooked beef that smelled unlike any she'd ever had. She wanted to cry.

"I figured you might be hungry now. You've been asleep for quite some time. Rough night?" Martha said sweetly as she gave her the tray and set about turning on a few of the lights.

Marcella laughed bitterly. "You have no idea."

She heard Martha laugh to herself before sitting on the edge of the bed. "I have some things I need to ask you: who you are, your past and the like. I know it is going to be incredibly hard, which is why I had dinner prepared for you first."

A smile came to Marcella's face as she was reminded yet again of her sister. Cassia had been somewhat lighter than Martha with huge hazel eyes and curly hair that fell down to her shoulders. But it wasn't the way Martha looked that reminded her of Cassia. It was her spirit, her soul. "My name is Marcella."

She ate in silence and when she was full she pushed the tray onto the side table. She sat up a bit and suddenly felt a cramp in her stomach. "I need to-"

"Restroom, yes. There's a toilet, sink, and shower across the hall. I have some clothes there already. It might also be good for you to get up and move around some, too."

Deciding not to question what exactly a toilet was, she pulled herself out of the bed. On shaky legs she tried to gain her bearings and refused Martha's help in standing. It took her longer than it should have to get across the hall to the restroom, but when she finally did, Martha explained everything to her and left her to be alone for some time.

While Marcella was in the restroom, Martha went back into the room, fishing her cellphone out of the pocket of her jacket. There were two people she knew she needed to call, two people that would understand Marcella's situation more than anyone.

The first call was answered after the second ring. "Martha Jones! Hello there." a sultry voice answered.

"Oh, for the love of God, can you not?" a voice in the background yelled.

"I'm only saying hello!" the first voice replied before a shuffling noise was heard. "Sorry about the interruption, Martha. What have I done to deserve the great honor of hearing your beautiful voice?"

She sighed, a smile briefly touching her lips. "Jack, I've found someone. She was involved in some kind of time accident."

"Really now? A time accident? Those are kind of rare, aren't they?"

"Yes," Martha huffed. "But when they happen, nine times out of ten, _he_ is involved somehow. Her name is Marcella."

"Quite a lovely name. Latin?"

"Yes. As in Roman empire Latin. As in 79 AD. As in-"

"Pompeii." Jack responded, now shocked. "He was there. Him and Donna. I'll bet he knows something. I wouldn't be surprised if he's the reason she's here."

"That's what I thought. But the accident happened yesterday. Since time works differently, I don't know that he will look...the same. Yesterday for us could have been a thousand years up there in the stars." Martha answered wistfully.

"I'll call him, Martha. You just take care of Marcella and we'll be there as soon as we can. Hang in there."

Martha let out a soft laugh before muttering, "Don't I always?"

* * *

 

"We lived in a small village in southern Iberia. It was near the coast so there were always many ships. We were always told not to get too close to them for fear of slavers but...I guess we should have been afraid anyway." Marcella recounted quietly as she sat on a sofa outside the room she was in.

"How many family members did you have? What were their names?" Martha asked, readying her pen again to write down what Marcella was saying.

"There were five of us. Me, Cassia, and my parents: Lucretia and Gaius. We had a younger brother, Felix, but he died before his third year from fever. I didn't have any friends in the village, but Cassia did. She was very popular. Only one of her friends survived the raid. Her name was Antonia. She grew sick on the ship and...and she was tossed overboard."

Martha's hand stilled as she looked up to see the faraway look in Marcella's eyes. Wiping away tears she hadn't noticed until then, she prepared to keep writing. She was hoping she would be able to reach out to some of her contacts to find any trace of the incident that propelled Marcella from her time.

"Tell me about the family you worked for. What were they like?" Martha asked after taking time to gather herself.

Marcella moved to lie on her back so that she was now staring at the ceiling. "They were as nice as one could hope a master could be. They treated us like we were family, at least until the oldest son Caius began to grow fond of Cassia. The mother, Agrippina, grew cold toward us both….spiteful, even. She was determined to split up Cassia and I and send Cassia to Herculaneum. Cassia and Caius made plans to run away together and get married. Little did Agrippina know that Caius had his own plans to go to Herculaneum. That's why Cassia was so happy to be going there. She said it was...a place of opportunity, a place for her to have the life she always wanted. That life did not include me." She paused for a moment before looking over at Martha. "This is quite painful for me, Martha." Her voice was quiet and almost sad.

Martha nodded. "Of course. I understand. But, Marcella, there's something I think you must know about Herculaneum."

Marcella sat up now, sensing that whatever Martha was about to tell her was important. "What of it?"

"I...I know it was nearly 2,000 years ago but Herculaneum was destroyed by a volcano, as was a neighboring city called Pompeii."

Marcella allowed confused shock to come across her face. "What? What is a volcano?"

"Think of it as a mountain that exploded and a great fire erupted from it. There are lots of them all over the world and they erupt quite often throughout history. But, sometimes, the eruptions can be extremely destructive. I'm so sorry, Marcella, but there is a very distinct possibility that Cassia and Caius were killed in the eruption of Vesuvius."

Never in all of Martha's life could she recall seeing someone other than the Doctor so broken a person before her. Marcella's face fell and she clutched her chest as she pulled her knees up to her face. For twenty minutes, Martha could do nothing as Marcella sobbed herself to exhaustion.

"Do you remember where you were before you were pushed here?" Martha asked after awhile.

Marcella looked up at her with puffy red eyes now widened in shock and shook her head. "No. I can't remember a thing."

 


	3. Chapter 3

"I come bearing gifts." He had a few bags in his hands and was attempting to hold the drinks which were fast beginning their descent to the floor.

"Easy, Jack, I've got this." Martha laughed as she grabbed the bags from him, leaving him to adjust the drinks in his hand.

They walked downstairs and through a short hallway that led them to an elevator. Climbing inside, Jack instinctively pushed himself against the back wall as did Martha as the elevator went down and forward.

A bell sounded, letting them know they'd reached the floor where Marcella was currently housed. It was a cross between an apartment and a hospital room, decorated quite warmly. Martha often forgot the entire facility was underground in an abandoned tube station.

She opened the bag and took a deep breath, inhaling the scents of her favorite food. "Mm. You brought Chinese food. I could kiss you right now, Jack."

"What's stopping you?" he replied before letting out a chuckle as she playfully shoved him into a wall.

"Oh, shove off, you horndog." Martha retorted as she turned the key to open the door to the living room.

Martha gestured to Jack to be quiet as she noticed that Marcella was fast asleep. Both could see that her eyes were puffy and red from crying and she was curled up into the fetal position. Where her face might normally be relaxed in sleep, it was troubled and sad.

"Oh, no. I am so so sorry." Jack whispered as he pulled a blanket over her. Her face loosened up only slightly as she turned so that she was facing the cushions of the sofa.

"I really don't think we should wake her, Jack. She's...been through a lot."

"She does need to eat, though. And Blue Gardens doesn't usually taste good warmed up later. I'll wake her up." he replied as he touched her ankles to wake her up and quickly moved away so as not to scare her.

Marcella stirred, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the light. She sat up, rubbing her eyes before she peered over the sofa sleepily. "Martha, why did you wake me? I was dreaming of my village."

Martha gave Marcella an apologetic smile. "Sorry, Marcella, but that wasn't me. This is a friend of mine. He kind of knows what you're going through." Martha gestured to Jack who now had a bright smile on his face. She suppressed the ure to roll her eyes deep into her skull.

"I do apologize, Marcella. I know you've been through quite an ordeal. Martha has told me a lot about you and yet I'm afraid you don't know much about me. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Captain Jack Harkness." Jack sounded quite sincere and held his hand out for Marcella to take.

Smiling shyly, she took his hand and laughed as he kissed it. "It is a pleasure to meet you, captain."

Martha watched the exchange and rolled her eyes. "Jack, don't. Leave her be."

"Relax, Martha, I'm only introducing myself." Jack replied cheekily before opening the bags and taking food out. "Chicken lo mein for you, Martha, with extra peanuts. Orange chicken and fried rice for me, and chicken lo mein and crab rangoon for you, Marcella. I don't know if you've ever had Chinese food before but-"

"I have. There was a trader named Shao Min in my village. We used to see him twice a year when we were invited to his temporary home for dinner. He was quite a generous man." Marcella replied as a small, nostalgic smile touched her face.

A somewhat uncomfortable silence filled the room as they ate their food. Marcella relished at the taste of the food and could feel her mood getting a little better as she got closer to being full. She ate slowly, not wanting to miss the way anything tasted and letting her mind wander.

Jack and Martha had been incredibly nice to her. Earlier, Martha informed her that she was currently trying to get in contact with someone who might have known what happened to her. She'd now been in Martha's care for nearly a week and though she was deeply saddened about being so far from what she considered home, the curious part of her wanted to see how the world had changed. She needed to.

If being torn away from everything she knew taught her anything, it was that she would never be afraid to live again. She knew it was only a way of stifling her grief, but it was also a way to keep her past close to her. Cassia would have done the same. She'd wanted to see the world and meet new people and experience new things. Marcella was quite the opposite. Change scared her and she'd taken up a permanent residence in her comfort zone long before the accident. But no more would she do so. The only way to honor Cassia's memory was to do everything she'd been unable to.

"Marcella, are you alright?" Martha asked, breaking her away from her thoughts.

She looked up, her dark curly hair swinging slightly into her face as she did so. Jack noted a certain look occupying her eyes and remembered seeing a similar one in his own. It was wild. It was curious. It was painfully familiar. 

"I want to see what has changed. I want to know what has happened since I came here." her voice sounded a falsely chipper and he knew she was attempting to project her happiness out to them, even if it did not exist.

To say that Martha and Jack were worried would be an understatement. It helped none at all that at that moment all three of them heard a wheezing noise that was foreign to Marcella and quite familiar to Martha and Jack. Still, the two of them smiled as they raced from the room toward the noise, Marcella following curiously after the

.

They arrived to the entryway two floors up and saw a blue police box taking up most of the space. Martha and Jack could not help themselves and smiled widely as the door creaked open.

"What is that?" Marcella asked wondrously.

"TARDIS. Stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space. Who's your new friend, Martha?" A tall man stepped out from the box. He had mostly gray hair and intensely green-gray eyes that were shielded by large eyebrows. He wore a long coat that was deep blue and lined with red silk, black pants, and black dress shoes. His accent was particularly odd to Marcella's ears. If he hadn't spoken, Marcella might've been afraid of him.

Martha's eyebrows nearly disappeared into her hairline. "You've gotten-"

"Jesus, you're _old_!" Jack finished quite brashly.

" _You're_ one to talk." 

"Who are you?" Marcella asked, trying to control the slight fear in her voice.

"He's the person I told you about. He's the Doctor." Martha answered.

"Does this doctor have a name?" Marcella asked as she walked toward him.

"Just the Doctor." 

"That's quite foolish. How would this man know anything about what happened to me?"

"Chances are that he might have had something to do with your time accident or at least knows something about it. He's a Time Lord after all." Jack said as he came forward to give the Doctor a short hug. "Still looking quite handsome for an old man, Doctor."

"Jack, honestly?" Martha rolled her eyes. "You flirt with anything that has a pulse!"

"And things with two pulses." he replied, winking at the Doctor who let a smile cross his face.

They talked some more with Marcella observing the three of them before Martha decided the more serious aspect of their talk needed to discussed elsewhere.

"She was near Pompeii on Volcano Day. That's the only explanation. She had to be somewhere near the volcano. I can't see how else she could have gotten here." Martha started as she paced across the room.

"And you were in Pompeii on Volcano Day with Donna. Did you do anything that might've caused Marcella to be shoved through time?" Jack asked.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow as he leaned against the back of the sofa before rising to his full height. "I probably saved someone who was supposed to die. I'm sure I did. In fact, I know I did. That's where I got this ridiculous face from."

Marcella frowned at this. "I don't understand." She felt lost. She could tell the Doctor was an interesting man, but she felt as if she was still catching up with everything he said and did. "But you are here now. How could you have been in Pompeii when the mountain exploded?"

"Volcano. Not a mountain. And it was me. Well, a different me, but the same me. Time travel. I'm a Time Lord, we can do that." he replied with a smirk.

"Time travel? That's impossible."

"It's not. Jack and I have seen it. He's not lying."

Marcella felt a little dizzy and she closed her eyes in an attempt to steady herself. Just then, an idea struck her and she looked up at the Doctor with hopeful eyes. "If what you say is true, then you could take me back-"

"No." the three of them chorused together. Jack, for his part, looked sad. Aside from the Doctor, he knew what it was like to be years into the future and all alone with no family left.

"I want to go back!" Marcella's voice raised an octave and they could see confusion clouding her eyes. "I _need_ to go back!"

"I can't and I won't. Clearly something I did has already messed up the timestream. I won't even dare risk it by going back to that time, especially when one of my former selves is there. The TARDIS will not let me. I'm sorry Marcella." And he truly was. Everyday he fought the urge to go back in time to a time before Gallifrey was engaged in the Time War. He wanted to quite desperately but he would never be able to go there again.

Marcella's face clouded with anger and sadness. "I don't think you know what this feels like, you strange man. I was in my own time. I had a _life_. I had...my _sister_. All of it has been taken away from me! You have a way to give it back and you _refuse?_ My sister was probably smothered by pieces of that disgusting mountain and I could go back and warn her, _save_ her. Why won't you give me that chance? I don't want to be here! I want my life back!" She was yelling and crying. Martha and Jack both were finding spots on the walls to look at.

The Doctor eyed her curiously and sighed. "Even if you could save her, it wouldn't change anything. Time would find a way to make up for it some way or another. It always does. If you save her when she was meant to die in that eruption, death will come to her in a different form. She could drown. She could have a heart attack. She could get sick. She could die in childbirth-"

"STOP IT! STOP TALKING AND TAKE ME BACK, YOU _STUPID_ MAN!" Jack and Martha cringed as Marcella screamed at the Doctor. His face changed, hardening as his eyebrows shot up slowly.

"Do not try to tell me what to do. I do what I damn well please. I _cannot_ take you back or time may face a very real risk of fracturing. I would _love_ to go back to my old life, my old planet, but I can't. So, if _I_ can't go back, then neither can you. That is just the way time works." His voice was dangerous and low, his Scottish accent thick in a way that made him almost hard to understand.

Marcella raced from the room and Jack nearly went after her but the Doctor stopped him. "Don't," he said, his voice filled with some strange emotion. "There's nothing you can say or do." 

Martha nodded. "It's been a long day. We should turn in." After saying brief goodbyes, Martha left for her own room which was next to Marcella's.

Jack decided to take the sofa previously occupied by Marcella and the Doctor headed back to the TARDIS, promising not to leave.

As Marcella changed into one of the large shirts Martha had given her, she cried silently. To know with absolute certainty that she would never see her sister again hurt her beyond belief. All she wanted was to wake up and pretend she was having a horrible dream. But this was not to be. Every morning since she'd arrived, she woke up, hoping to be back in the villa with Agrippina yelling for her to wake up and get started running errands. Every morning she was wrong, and she cried.

As she lay in bed, she pulled her arms to her chest and prayed as tears fell onto her pillow. " _Deum magnum Chronos, ut reddere mihi quaeso rite tempus redde meum, remittas mihi soror mea. Oro et peto ut beneficiis Exaudi orationem meam_." She repeated the prayer over and over again until she fell asleep, hoping that her prayer would be heard and he wish could be granted.


End file.
